Jewelry clasp



May 13, 195 2: HQECKELE 2,596,405

JEWELRY" CLASP Filed Dec. 18*, 1947 Patented May 13, 1952 JEWELRY CLASP Karl F. Hoeckelc, Newark, N. J., assignor to Eastern Jewelry Finding Works, Inc., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 18, 1947, Serial N 0. 792,417

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to the jewelry art, and has particular reference to a novel construction for a clasp for use with bracelets and wrist watch straps.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a novel clasp of small size, suitable for use with ladies bracelets and wrist watch straps.

Another object of the invention is to provide a clasp construction which is spring held in both open and closed positions.

Still another object is to provide a clasp construction made of a small number of readily stamped and quickly assembled parts.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claim appended thereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the novel clasp as used with a link type chain;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged central longitudinal section of Fig. 1, the clasp being shown closed;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, the clasp being shown open;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the clasp hous- Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the clasp cover; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the clasp spring.

It has been found desirable to provide a clasp construction of small size which is made of a small number of readily assembled parts, and is suitable for use with narrow bracelets and wrist watch straps. To this end, I have devised a novel clasp which has only three parts, comprising a housing which is preferably made of stamped metal, an extremely strong spring which is mounted in the housing, and a cover, also made of stamped metal, which is pivoted on the housing and engages the spring in both open and closed position. I prefer to use a rectangular housing and cover, and a U-shaped flat spring, but use other forms and shapes to conform to different bracelet and chain designs.

Referring to the drawings, the novel clasp Iii includes a housing II, a spring element I2, and a cover l3, the housing having an upper wall M and two downwardly extending parallel side walls l5 and IS. The side walls are preferably cut away at the forward end to permit a forward extension of the upper wall 14 to be curled into an end hook I! for the purpose of attaching one end link of a bracelet or watch strap chain thereto.

The spring element I2 is of generally U shape, having a short flat upper portion IS, a U bend l9 and a longer fiat lower portion 20, the lower portion of the U bend being provided with two laterally extending lugs 2| which are seated in associated openings 22 at the forward side walls I5, I 6 of the housing ll, whereby the flat upper portion [8 of the spring presses against the lower surface of the upper wall I4 of the housing and the lower portion 20 of the spring closes the lower portion of the housing and is disposed in position to be engaged by the cover, as hereinafter explained. The reduced length of the fiat upper portion [8 permits a greater movement of the lower portion when so engaged by the cover.

The cover l3 has an upper wall 23 shaped to seat on and extend over the upper wall l4 of the housing, and provided with a downwardly extending forward portion 24 adapted to snap engage the roll I 1 of the housing, the forward portion 24 being provided with a lip 25 for manual engagement to open the cover. The rear end of the cover extends downwardly and is spaced from the housing to provide an end hook 26 for receiving the end link of the other end of the chain, and is cut away as indicated at 21 and bent forwardly to form a forwardly extending slightly upwardly inclined portion 28 which has two oppositely positioned pivot lugs 29 adapted to seat in associated pivot openings 30 in the rear of the side Walls [5 and it of the housing.

When the parts ar assembled together, the forwardly extending portion 28 of the cover presses against the flat lower portion 20 of the spring. As shown in Fig. 2, the forward edge SI of the portion 28 presses the flat portion 20 of the spring upwardly when the cover is in closed position, thus maintaining a secure spring lock, and when the cover is opened as shown in Fig. 3, the outer Wall of the flat portion 28 is engaged by the lower surface of the flat portion of the spring for resiliently holding the cover in open position. The movement of the cover is thus against a yielding resistance during and at the end of its motion, and the forward portion 24 of the cover also resiliently snaps over the coil I! of the housing whe in closed position, to provide an additional spring holding.

The above described construction provides a very simple arrangement of small size which is. efliciently and safely held in locked position and scope of theinventiona's defined in'the appendedclaim.

I claim: 7

A clasp construction comprising a housing having an upper wall and depending parallel'sides';

the upper wall extending forwardly beyond the.

sides and arcuately curved to-provide an end hook, a U-shaped fiat spring mounted between the side walls of the housing withan upper flat,

portion contacting the lower surface'of the housing upper wall and a lower flat portion closing? the space between the depending sides, and a coverhaving an upper wall. extending over the upper. wall of thehousing, an arcuate forward endadapted, to snap over the end hook, anda 4 depending rear end forming an end hook and having a forwardly extending portion pivoted in the rear ends of the housing sides, said forward- 1y extending portion contacting the lower fiat portion of the spring.

KARL F. HOECKELE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 459,270 Dessoir Sept. 8, 1891 166,738' Donohoe Jan. 5, 1892 1,410,170 Cummings Mar. 21, 1922 1,755,306 Riker Apr. 22, 1930 2,453,993 Kreisler Nov. 16, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 848,997 France Aug. '7, 1939 

